Originally Posted by mbworld

Taking the car to a dealer is okay if it is a major job.

I agreed to buy the dipstick and approached a dealer in Maryland and they said it would take 4-6 weeks to get the dipstick. Indirectly what the parts fellow was asking me to do was to take the car to their service department.

So I called up another dealer in the next town about 40 miles away and he said he can have the dipstick for me to pick it up in 2 days time.

Well would you tell me which dealer you would trust your car with ? The first or the second ?

To surmise the story, I have decided to seek the help of folks on this forum to get the best advice and get the job done on my own.

Once again thanks all who did contribute to this thread.